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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

painted stripe curtains.

I dropped the ball big time on this project. I have zero pictures of the process. I don't know what I was thinking - it was a bit of a quick and impulsive project done late at night (I needed lots of open floor space for this one and ample time for it to dry, without little feet stomping around on them).

After we added our big white custom entertainment unit (still working on that post), the large white panels just were not popping out or doing anything for our family room anymore. I pretty quickly decided that I wanted stripes and did a tiny bit of research on painting them. I considered a bold color stripe, my husband didn't really want to paint them at all so the compromise to me was paint the stripes the same color as the walls (and I'm glad we went this way).

So I took down the white curtains, washed them, dried them - HUGE mistake!! - I shrunk the curtains and didn't find out until after round one of painting stripes, such defeat - luckily I had an extra set of IKEA white panels sitting in the closet, so no extra cost- so I only ironed the new pair before setting out to paint them.

Breakdown of my steps:
1. lay out tarps and make sure they are smooth (I did all of the work on the floor)
2. place curtains on top of the tarps
3. work at night and place the cat in a secured location so no little feet get in the way
4. turn on Fixer Upper marathon to stay inspired while you work
5. measure and measure again
6. tape out stripes - I wanted 5 big grey stripes and 4 white stripes for 9 total. I wish I had pictures of my curtains taped out, but here are a few tips - each of my stripes measured approx. 10 1/3 in. because I started taping under the grommet section - I used a pencil and measured down from the top of each stripe and drew about 5-6 pencil marks for each stripe - then I placed the tape directly across pressing the tape down many times - it is difficult to tape on fabric because the fabric constantly moves and bunches - the sections that will be white stripes will look smaller because you are taping out to paint the grey stripes only.
7. Press down the tape for the 10th time.
8. Use the foam roller and begin to paint - I painted 3 coats. I worked on two stripes at a time going back and forth because I wanted to take the paint off while it was still wet. This seemed to work well. Plus it gave you a chance to see how it was working.
9. Pray and peel the tape. :)
10. Once all five stripes are painted and the tape is gone, leave on the floor to dry overnight.
11. Hang in the morning. Check if light catches any needed touch-up spots. I found that 3 coats really covered it well and it didn't need any touch-ups.

When I tell people I painted my curtains, I get this look of "painted your curtains? that's kind of crazy" - but it was well worth it people. It made a huge difference to the space. The attention to height makes our ceilings look taller. If you go up to touch them the painted portions are stiff, but when do we touch our curtains? Overall, we are really happy with them. It was a crazy inexpensive way to add a custom curtain look to our space!
Sorry for the lack of pictures!